Moderate Liberals urged to break ranks and vote for climate emergency motion

Tim Wilson and Trent Zimmerman are
 among the Liberal MPs to sign up to the
Parliamentary Friends of Climate Action
 group.

The Greens have intensified efforts ahead of the return of federal parliament next week to lobby moderate Liberals to break ranks and vote for a motion declaring a climate emergency.

With parliament set to resume on Monday, the lower house Greens MP Adam Bandt has written to all parliamentarians in the House urging them to support the climate emergency motion, which would be seconded by independent Zali Steggall, and has the support of most of the crossbench.

“Every member of parliament is capable of supporting this motion,” Bandt says in the letter. “It does not condemn the government … nor does it express support for any particular policy position.

“It simply acknowledges the science and calls on the government to take urgent action. This motion is a statement that individual members of parliament recognise the seriousness of the challenge we face.

Read the story from The Guardian by Katharine Murphy - “Moderate Liberals urged to break ranks and vote for climate emergency motion.”

The electric vehicle revolution

The Greens have released their policy for the introduction and use of electric cars in 

Australia.

Electric car policy from The Greens.

Introducing the policy, the Greens said: “If we’re truly committed to meeting our Paris Agreement commitments and building towards net-zero emissions, we need to transform the way we transport people and goods. 

“There is no time to waste. Unlike the Liberal and Labor parties, whose decade of dysfunctional government has failed to deliver a plan to reduce emissions, we are committed to re-powering our economy through clean energy,” they said.

Read the policy here.

Greens want a state-owned power retailer

The Greens will take a radical re-nationalisation agenda to the next federal election that would strip energy, health, communications, banks, education and aged care operations from private providers and hand them back to the state.

Greens leader Senator Richard Di Natale.

In comments that will embolden the party's socialist-left, Greens leader Richard Di Natale will tell the National Press Club on Wednesday that people “have had enough".

"They want us to take back control of our economy and make it work for them again," he will say.

Read the story by Eyrk Bagshaw from The Age - “Greens want a state-owned power retailer.”

‘Really doesn't cut it': Pressure mounts on Turnbull government to reveal NEG modelling

The Greens are set to move a motion in the Senate on Monday seeking to pull back the curtain on the calculations behind the federal government's energy promises.

The numbers don't add up, Greens leader Senator Richard Di Natale says.

Senator Richard Di Natale will call on the government to release the full modelling for the proposed final design of the National Energy Guarantee to enable scrutiny of the government's claim that it will result in lower emissions and power bills.

Read the story from The Age by Dana McCauley - “‘Really doesn't cut it': Pressure mounts on Turnbull government to reveal NEG modelling.”

Greens to demand 90 per cent emissions cuts from future Labor government

The Greens would pressure a future Shorten government to slash greenhouse gas emissions from the electricity sector by 90 per cent, posing a likely complication for Labor should it win office at the next election without an absolute majority.

The Greens would seek to force Labor to adopt a 90 per
 cent emissions reduction target on he electricity sector.

The Greens’ stance, announced on Tuesday, underscores the importance of negotiations over the final design of the Turnbull government’s national energy guarantee. Labor states want a future federal government to control the setting of emission reductions imposed on the electricity sector, rather than being beholden to forces in Parliament seeking bolder or weaker climate action ambition.

Read the story by Nicole Hasham from The Age - “Greens to demand 90 per cent emissions cuts from future Labor government.”

Labor fiddled with factions while the Land of Tofu burned

In 2007, Batman was the safest Labor seat in Australia, held by a landslide-proof 76-24 against the Liberals. On March 17, when we, the burghers of Batman, cast our vote in a byelection caused by a citizenship malfunction, it's close to an even money chance that the fortress will fall.

The Greens took the seat of Melbourne in the next election of 2010 in what any amateur demographer or North Fitzroy real estate agent could see was a launching pad for a takeover of the city's progressive and rapidly gentrified inner north, so often lampooned as the land of tofu, single-origin coffee and, in recent times, “stop Adani’’ signage.

The ALP, as some party insiders explained, had higher priorities back then – such as trying to govern the country as a parliamentary minority. Batman and its neighbouring seat of Wills don't appear to have been given any strategic thought.

Read the opinion piece in The Age by Jake Niall - “Labor fiddled with factions while the Land of Tofu burned.”

Shorten goes colder on Adani coal mine as the battle for Batman begins

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has taken a further step toward opposing the proposed Queensland Adani coal mine as he starts campaigning for the Batman byelection, where Labor is fighting off a strong challenge from the Greens.

Bill Shorten said he had become increasingly
sceptical of Adani in recent months. 

Shorten was appearing with Labor’s candidate Ged Kearney, who on Friday resigned as ACTU president to contest the byelection.

Shorten seized on a Guardian Australia report that said Adani put in “an altered laboratory report” when appealing a fine for contamination of wetlands near the Great Barrier Reef.

Shorten said he had become increasingly sceptical of Adani in recent months.

If Adani was “relying on false information, that mine does not deserve to go ahead”.

Read the piece on The Conversation by Michelle Grattan - “Shorten goes colder on Adani coal mine as the battle for Batman begins.”

Greens aim to regulate a 'fair price' for solar generated electricity

Richard Di Natale in St Kilda in Melbourne.
The Greens want to regulate the electricity
market so all users get
a ‘fair price’ for their solar-generated power.

The Greens want to regulate the electricity system to ensure a “fair price” is paid for solar-generated electricity and ensure a “legal right” to connect to the grid by forcing energy companies to prove they cannot connect a consumer.

The Greens’ clean energy policy would put $192m for solar into schools, establish a solar ombudsman who would enforce a “right to solar” for renters and force energy companies to write-down pole and wire assets.

The Greens would also put $5m into an information campaign to promote the Clean Energy Finance Corporation’s (CEFC) schemes to support households and businesses installing solar with no upfront costs.

Read The Guardian story - “Greens want 'fair price' for solar power and access to grid for all.”

The Greens back community renewable energy projects

The Greens will back community renewable
energy projects - Adam Bandt.

The Greens will announce that they will spend $265.2m on community-owned renewable energy projects, including allowing these to generate tax-free profits from the electricity created.

The Greens energy spokesman, Adam Bandt, will announce the four-year package on Saturday in North Fitzroy at an apartment block seeking to establish a community-owned renewable project.

The Greens plan to create a $150m community energy start-up fund for 50 projects. The money will go towards planning, development, part of the capital costs and two years of operational funding.

They will spend $102.9m on community groups, schools and other local institutions to invest in solar panels and storage, including some capital costs.

Read The Guardian story - “Greens to spend $265m on community-owned renewable energy projects.”

Richard DiNatale 'rounds' on Barnaby Joyce for 'selling-out'

Greens leader Richard DiNatale
 on the Liverpool Plains.

The Greens have marched into the Nationals heartland of rural NSW and they are gunning for top dog Barnaby Joyce, accusing the "sell-out" Deputy Prime Minister of forsaking the interests of farmers by denying climate change.

Greens leader Richard Di Natale has also questioned the sincerity of Mr Joyce's weekend rumination that "climate change might really be happening" and he believes rural communities, on the "frontline" of climate change, are disillusioned with the regional party's history on the issue.

Speaking with Fairfax Media from the Liverpool Plains leg of a week-long country tour, Senator Di Natale said: "It's very hard to find somebody who has good things to say about the National Party on the issue of global warming.

"I speak to farmers often about the issue of global warming and there are very few who don't accept the science and that it is a serious threat."

Read Fergus Hunter’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “Election 2016: Richard Di Natale rounds on 'dinosaur' climate denier Joyce.”